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Funding for access to electricity by the willingness to pay of rural households in Cameroon

Do you know that it is possible to electrify 14,103 rural households in one year, with no contribution from the state, from a 60-Wp solar kit, providing a capacity of 300 Wh per day?

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The purpose of this reflection is to appreciate the importance that households attach to electricity, by assessing the share of income they are willing to sacrifice to have access.

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Electricity is considered one of the keys to economic and social development, and its availability contributes to poverty reduction, not only through economic growth, but also by the satisfaction of basic needs and health education (SIHAG et al., 2004) [1] .

The observation is done in rural Cameroon is that electricity as a source of lighting energy is used by 21.7% of the rural population, while 63.5% of the population use kerosene for the same purpose. That makes it the main source of energy for lighting in rural areas.

The emphasis on a consumer has been highlighted by an economist in the 19th century ( WALRAS , 1874) [2] . His analysis begins with the concept of "value-utility" and considers that only account for a consumer satisfaction, the price of the property depending on its degree of usefulness: if a good (or service) is rare but found very useful by a consumer it will be ready to acquire a high price, but this degree of utility decreases gradually as the degree of customer satisfaction increases. Meanwhile, the price that a consumer is willing to pay falls as and when the need is satisfied, which means that the more a good is produced in large quantities, or when a service is accessible to the greatest number, individual attaches less importance, and there is less and less willing to pay a high price. ( theory of value ........ )

The emphasis on the use of electricity will be assessed by observing the willingness to pay (WTP) for this source of household energy per month and from the share of income that can be allocated to electricity, an econometric approach from the CAP contingent valuation has also been implemented ...............

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[1] SIHAG, AR, MISRA, N. and Sharma, V. (2004),''Impact of Power Sector Reform is the Poor: case-studies of South and South-East Asia ", Energy for Sustainable Development, Vol VIII, No. 4, December, New Delhi.
[2] Walras, L. (1874), Elements of pure economics, economic Complete Works VIII (1988), Oxford